It had started so well, the wedding of the century off to a glorious start. A beautiful princess had fallen in love with her Prince Charming, a man who could offer her a golden future.
Yet within a decade the fairy tale had turned to ashes. For years they had managed to put on a show of public affection, but as the marriage disintegrated the mask began to slip. On an official visit to Korea they found it impossible to act out the charade. Weighed down by years of a loveless marriage, they quite simply could not bear to be in each other’s company.
The cause of the problem was Charles’ continuing relationship with his girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles. For years Diana’s friends watched her self-confidence diminishing as the other woman took over. Camilla, supposedly much more his own age, little older than him actually, supposedly was the only woman he could talk to, who could understand him, who he felt understood him in a ways that Diana was too young and naive in his view to do.
And obviously this confidant who could also make him laugh. Uh, it’s quite clear from the tapes of nothing else that they had fun in bed. There was probably no one to talk to. So he he’s going to lean on the shoulder of a friend and that friend happened to be a woman and a and a and I think probably Camilla probably saved Charles’ sanity.
The Prince of Wales was brought up by older women. He was uh surrounded by adoring nannies and servants. And Camilla is a mature woman. She’s um round about the same age, but you know, in terms of maturity much much older uh than the Prince of Wales. She is not uh the most attractive, obviously attractive woman in the world.
You know, there’s certain sensuality about her, which there often is uh about nannies and nursemaids. I think what Charles needed and still needs is a soulmate. And I don’t think he’s found that. So he certainly didn’t find that in Diana. Diana is relieved that the days of pretending are over. Now that everything is out in the open and she’s officially separated from her husband, she can take on a modest but more honest role in her public duties.
Her official engagements are now rare. When she does appear in public, her elegance and sense of style is still spectacular. Drawing the spotlight away from Charles, this is her way of hitting back at her husband, the man who betrayed her. A poisonous war still rages between them.
Her suspicions linger on that Charles has escaped from the marriage morally unscathed despite his admission of adultery. Anyone would be mad to say that Charles wasn’t pleased to be to be out of what was a very very unhappy relationship what for both of them. And I think saying he’s pleased to be shot of her is probably rather a cruel way of putting it.
I think he is delighted that the sham of his marriage is sign finally come to an end. A- as as as is she. Diana is buoyed up by public sympathy, but there is hostility towards her from Charles’ friends and family. When the Queen invited Camilla to polo at Windsor Great Park, royal unity was maintained despite all fingers pointing at Camilla as the other woman in Charles’ life.
Retiring to lick his wounds is not in character for the Prince of Wales. It’s not in his nature to hide from the spotlight. Charles has never known life without it. For a man under pressure, polo is a vital outlet for his frustration. Everything has always revolved around Charles with every practical need taken care of, his path continuously smoothed.
As a young man finding the right woman was a major preoccupation. When you marry in my position, you’re going to marry somebody who perhaps one day is going to become queen. And you’ve got to choose somebody very carefully, I think. Who could who could fulfill this particular role because people like you perhaps would expect quite a lot from somebody like that.
And it’s got to be somebody pretty special. The fairy tale princess miraculously appeared. The wedding was watched by 700 million people worldwide. The young princess captured people’s hearts for her youthful manner and fine good looks. She appeared to be tailor-made for the job. Their romance had started when she was just 17.
They’d met in a plowed field and Charles was immediately taken by Diana’s shy bashful good looks. He dithered for years over his choice of bride and had even courted Camilla Parker Bowles in her youth. Being a Catholic ruled her out of the running. So the arrival of the innocent and unblemished Diana seemed like a gift from heaven.
Difficult to find nice sort of words. At their engagement interview Diana was in no doubt that she was marrying for love, while Charles doubted the true meaning of the word. And I suppose in love? Of course. Whatever in love means. Diana was in love with Charles and in love with the idea of Charles, but in a very immature way.
I mean of course how could she be anything else but immature? She was 19 years old. The 13-year age gap was thought not to be important. It was probably his sense of duty. After all his motto is Ich Dien, I serve. And he he felt that he should get married. He felt that he’d been romancing this innocent young girl and that uh and that really the pressure was on.
And also everybody wanted him to get married and I think they all got swept away in the euphoria of it. [cheering] After their wedding Charles brought his new wife to meet the Welsh people. The weather was appalling, but the reception was warm. Thousands of people filled the streets for a chance to see their first Princess of Wales for more than 70 years.
It was three days of continuous walkabouts, functions and speeches, a traumatic experience for the young Diana. It was freezing cold. It was pouring with rain. The Princess of Wales was pregnant and not feeling at all well, but being very brave about it. In fact, she was being sick every 5 seconds and everybody was finding the nearest loo.
And we got off the royal train and I was right behind her and she was so frightened. She was vibrating like a tuning fork. I mean you could see the absolute terror of it, but she was true Spencer grit was coming to the fore. And we walked down this long grim station platform and beyond we could see these huge huge crowds.
And it was as if she took a deep breath and plunged into icy water. She just ran forward and thrust her hands into the crowd. And they were absolutely overwhelmed. And next stop, an hour later, she was a changed girl. She’d broken the ice. She’d done it. She’d felt the warmth of the crowd for the first time. Determined to make a memorable impact on the people of Wales, a hesitant and nervous 21-year-old princess impressed them by making her first ever public speech.
I am extremely grateful to you, Lord Mayor, and the city council, and the city of Cardiff for granting me the freedom of the city. I realize it is a very great honor and I am most grateful. [applause] Images after the birth of Prince William radiated happiness and true love. Perhaps when they first got married they had a few problems as as a lot of people do, but I think when she had William that they would did have a period when they were very very happy.
And I’m sure he was in love with her and I think I remember talking to him at the time and he prefaced everything with my wife. He didn’t want to talk about anything except Diana and he obviously doted on her and the child. At her former flatmate’s wedding Diana appeared with her new husband Charles. To begin with Diana had considerable influence over her husband.
She softened him up and introduced him to her circle of friends, all in an attempt to make him feel relaxed in the company of people more of her own age. I think Diana did try and to a degree succeeded in bringing Charles up to date a bit. I mean she certainly seemed to change his style of clothes and she had some impact, I think.
I seem to remember on his hairstyle, but not much. I mean he’s he’s basically a very very conservative man. He was born aged 45. Uh so I think she she had an uphill struggle. Old habits die hard. Charles found it difficult to shake off years of royal upbringing. Prince Charles basically was brought up by nannies and by the Queen Mother.
And it is interesting that the two role models that he’s had have been the Queen Mother and his own mother, the Queen. The Queen Mother is both a symbol before she’s a mother. So, it’s a very I think a young psychologist would have a field day looking at this man who can only fulfill himself as an individual when his mother dies.
Charles’ relationship with his mother, the Queen, had never been an actual one. Ever since he was a baby, her royal duties had kept them apart. Charles, a sensitive and timid child, was dispatched to Gordonstoun, a rough and rugged boarding school in Scotland where his father had been as a boy.
The tough surroundings, cold showers, and early morning dips were part of the daily routine. There were doubts that this was the right kind of school for the sensitive Charles. He in my view already been a victim once, you know, as a victim of his childhood. And a victim of the fact that his parents had not really been available to him a great deal of the time.
And so, by sending him to a school where he was expected almost to fend for himself with a very, very strong, powerful headmaster, in many ways rather like his father, would I I would have thought was not the right thing for him. Charles could never be called a wimp. In his teens, he chose to take up polo determined to prove his strength, fitness, and courage in this robust and dangerous sport.
Royal family tradition is steeped in horsemanship. Charles’ increasing obsession with polo revealed a deep need to impress his father. He has tried in many in some ways, I suppose, to emulate his father. His father is very masculine man. He swims, he rides, plays polo. And of course, I think the fact that Prince Charles took up this sport of polo was in some way trying to emulate his father and trying to make his father like him and admire him and respect him.
And the only time that I’ve ever heard of Prince Charles ever really standing up to his father was at Buckingham Palace many, many years ago when Prince Charles was about 21 or 22 and they were having a row and all of a sudden, this was told to me by a former private secretary to the Queen, they heard Prince Charles say to Prince Philip, “Just remember who you’re speaking to.
You’re speaking to a future King of England.” When Charles was 18, the Queen presented her son to the people of Wales at Caernarfon Castle. From an early age, Charles was prepared for his royal duties. I think Charles was enormously handicapped by his upbringing. He didn’t have the sort of tactile relationship with his parents that most children have.
Therefore, he didn’t really know how to behave towards other people. He didn’t see his parents have a very tactile relationship. It was all hugely formal and and awkward. And there were a lot of long absences. So, he he really had no role model. Charles found a sympathetic ear in his great uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten. This charismatic older figure, once the last Viceroy of India, decided to step in and nurture this hesitant adolescent and groom him in statesmanship.
It was a very special relationship. Mountbatten was the sort of avuncular figure who was a figure of fun on many occasions, but they took his advice about things to do with royal relationships. In 1979, Lord Mountbatten was suddenly and tragically murdered by an IRA bomb while on holiday in Ireland. Charles had lent heavily on him for advice.
Had he lived, he would have undoubtedly helped him to sort out his relationship with Diana. Had Mountbatten been alive now in full control of his faculties, we would have seen a very different development from what we have seen. I think that Mountbatten probably would have tried desperately hard to charm Diana and he could do it.
He could charm the birds off a tree, he really could. He would have And he would have used some form of emotional blackmail to get her on his side and explained to her that duty was all important. Never mind about the unhappiness in in your private life, your public duty is all important. And I believe that they probably would have stayed together if Lord Mountbatten had been alive now.
In the beginning, Charles and Diana’s relationship appeared perfectly harmonious. Diana settled into the routine of royal duties, accompanying her husband on foreign visits, stunning people with her beauty. The public’s perception was one of a happy young woman who had adapted to the pressure of royal life with extraordinary ease and grace.
During an official visit to Italy, the veneer that barely covered their troubles was slowly beginning to crack. Diana was suffering from the eating disorder bulimia nervosa. Despite her elegant charm, her loss of weight and sudden change of moods was causing concern amongst her friends.
[laughter] My husband and I are very happy to be here. Outwardly, Diana appeared in control, but beneath her glamorous facade was a woman in turmoil. Just how kind and wonderful the Italians have been to us. They’ve made us feel so much at home and it’s the most beautiful place. She confided in her friend that in her husband’s presence, he made her feel intellectually insecure and inferior.
English people have been there for years and years. What we do know from what members of their staff have revealed that Diana could be very, very difficult to live with. And in fact, when she was suffering from bulimia, one of the symptoms of that disease is is wildly irrational behavior. She would scream and rant and rave and throw things around.
And of course, Prince Charles was not equipped to cope with this. He’d never been brought up where people showed their emotions in public in this way. Here, in one of the most romantic cities in the world, Charles’ preoccupations were far too low-key for someone of Diana’s generation. She wasn’t immune from the beauty of Venice, but their basic divergence of interests was becoming more noticeable.
Charles recorded his impressions of Venice from the royal yacht Britannia. By nature more serious-minded, Charles is a deep thinker. It was the start of a great love affair with Italy. Its beauty and antiquity appealed to his fascination with history and his passion for painting. He later chose Italy to host the first exclusive public exhibition of his own watercolors at Raphael’s house in Urbino.
Craving attention from her husband, Diana attracted love and affection from her adoring public. Her husband’s status gave her the platform upon which she could flourish. [cheering] Diana has always taken exceptional care over her appearance and goes to great lengths to stand out above her husband. Well, initially, he seemed quite pleased when people wanted his wife and everybody adored her.
But then very quickly, he began to grow tired of this. I noticed it in Australia early on. Whenever they’d walk down a street together, there’d be crowds either side of the street. He’d go down one side, she’d go down another. And when on his side of the street, all the public would say, “We want Di.” And poor Prince Charles would end up saying, “I’m sorry, there’s only me.
” And one point in England when he went to a Silverstone racetrack, a little boy came up to him and said, “Where’s Diana?” And the Prince by that stage had got very cross about it all and said, “I’m sorry, she’s not here. There’s only me. So, why don’t you go and ask for your money back?” Charles’ action man image was dented by Diana’s public adoration.
He was accustomed to having all eyes on him. As a bachelor, an early morning swim in Australia helped boost the image of a man under pressure to succeed with the opposite sex. His celebrity status made him the most exposed royal ambassador at large. His girlfriends were hounded by the press. They became the center of wild speculation and rumor.
Instead, he settled for a shy young English aristocrat desperately in need of love and attention. And leaving behind him his polo-loving friend, Camilla, who by this stage was married to Andrew Parker Bowles. Outwardly, the marriage seemed a happy one. But the cloud of Camilla remained.
Reports claim though that their marriage breakdown goes back to the birth of Harry. I don’t think Harry’s birth per se was a cause of of the beginning of the end, but I do think that it was around that period. Um and I think it was largely to do with with Charles’s onset of of the real sort of midlife crisis. He felt that his contemporaries were all reaching the pinnacle of their careers or they were certainly well on the way to it and here he was still not fulfilling any well-defined role.
Um still sort of king in waiting, which he could see stretching on for another 20 or 30 years. As guests of the Spanish royal family, Diana and Charles enjoyed relaxed summer holidays in Majorca. Scenes like these full of loving care and tenderness were a far cry from Charles’s own royal childhood and summer holidays spent in the Highlands of Scotland in an atmosphere which sets him apart from his children.
He’s closer to them to them than his own father was to him and closer than his own father was to his father. Um he tries to be a good father. He’s genuinely affectionate towards both his sons. Uh but in in the terms of what you and I might understand a good father to be, it’s impossible for him to to be so because he cannot devote enough time to them.
Yeah, they really have to make an appointment to see him just like anybody else. Highgrove is Charles’s home. Until their separation, Diana lived here at the weekends. This was her husband’s territory, a 700-acre retreat in Gloucestershire. Here in peace and quiet, Charles can indulge in his passion for gardening. Highgrove is particularly important for Charles because it’s his own home.
It’s his first home where he can do what he likes in. And I think that some of the things that he does in this home somehow compensate him for what he was not able to have while he was growing up. Cuz he is very very keen on gardening. And one can imagine that the seeds that he plants in the soil and the the flowers and the plants that grow out of the soil are in a way children for him.
That they’re they’re growing. He nurtures them. He can mother them in a way as he would have liked to have been mothered by his own parents. His love of nature and genuine concern for the environment has given rise to claims that Charles is too preoccupied with saving the planet from itself. His controversial opinions have made him unpopular in professional circles.
I would hardly be so tactless as to impart to you my views on the architectural design of this remarkable building. What is proposed seems to me like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend. You have, ladies and gentlemen, to give this much to the Luftwaffe. When it knocked down our buildings, it didn’t replace them with anything more offensive than rubble.
We did that to the global environment and to become the genuine stewards of all life on Earth, not just the human bit of it. Meanwhile, Diana was preoccupied with the way she looked. It was her way of expressing herself, boosting her self-confidence, and helping her to cope with the pressure of her marriage breakdown and restore her self-esteem.
Summer Sunday afternoons were spent watching Charles play polo. It was boring, but she was caught and scolded by her husband for using the bonnet of his Aston Martin as a seat. Come prize-giving and there was a lot for a glamorous lady to do. [applause] Her easy, friendly manner made her the center of attention.
There were times though when she’d rebel and wear something not quite in keeping with the atmosphere of royal polo. Her style and taste has always been at odds with Charles’s. He was a confirmed bachelor. He had a very comfortable bachelor existence. Um I mean he he was surrounded by all the sort of furnishings he liked and he had a regular routine where he saw his friends on uh this day and this day.
He played polo. He hunted on this day and that day. His life was pretty complete. I don’t think he realized when he married Diana that he was actually going to have to accommodate her in that picture. That he was going to have to account for her um her taste. You know, that that perhaps his tartan furnishings weren’t going to appeal to a a 19-year-old um who spent her life with her nose in fashion magazines.
You know, she wanted change and I think he found that very hard to to understand. Diana never fitted easily into the horsey polo set. As a small child, she fell off a horse and has never liked them since. As the sport of kings, polo has provided Charles with a much-needed outlet for his energy. With little day-to-day public contact, these were rare moments of them seen together.
Polo also provided Charles with an excuse to meet up with old acquaintances. Well, polo uh provided for many years Prince Charles’s male friends who may not perhaps be the most sophisticated and intelligent uh male company you can pick out. Uh and obviously polo has its groupies. Uh female groupies and there were rumors for a number of years and there were occasional sightings uh alleged sightings of the prince with girls from that milieu, let’s say.
So, there’s no doubt yes that it encouraged him to see as it were occasional women as part of the perks of his role and to see other men uh rich aristocratic men treating these women as playthings made him think that was part of what life was about. During an annual skiing holiday in Switzerland, Charles narrowly escaped death in an avalanche.
His close friend Major Hugh Lindsay was killed and another friend severely injured. Charles blamed himself for the tragedy. Losing a close friend in an accident was a traumatic and unforgettable experience for him. He’s um extremely compassionate. He’s a a genuine friend to people who he’s known for a long time and I know people of of, you know, male and female who’ve known him for many many years and if they ask him for help or even if they don’t ask, but he gets to hear that they are in trouble, he will go to endless
lengths to to help them if he can. So, he’s very compassionate in that way. He’s not arrogant with people in that way, but if people ever forget who he is for one moment, he will the royal curtain comes down with with chilling finality because Prince Charles never ever forgets for one moment who he is and he doesn’t let anybody else ever forget it either.
Long before the secret of Diana’s unhappy marriage became public knowledge, many attempts were made behind the scenes to maintain Charles’s good name at the expense of the princess. Stories later emerged from behind the palace walls about Diana’s removal from the royal family. When a crisis occurs in royal circles, the palace machine puts its full weight behind the blood royal.
The queen was sympathetic and encouraged Diana to soldier on despite Charles’s immovable and selfish ways. I think Charles is very much a stickler for royal protocol. I mean, I know of one occasion when the the the table was laid slightly wrong and I mean, he just he just demanded that the whole thing be reset and laid again.
And he sends very cryptic little memos to his staff about how things should be done. And he likes his his toothbrush uh and in a certain place and if it isn’t there, it irritates him. I mean, but you know, this is how he’s been brought up. He is a stickler for royal protocol. Charles’s macho image of action man was shattered after a polo accident suddenly left him an invalid for several months with a badly fractured arm.
It was another blow to his pride. When he emerged from a second operation, the seriousness of the injury was obvious. He made no secret of his pain. How are you, sir? Naturally, for peace and quiet, it was to his home at Highgrove that Charles went to convalesce and into the arms of Camilla Parker Bowles.
She was a really sympathetic shoulder to cry on. I think she was a chum. A soulmate, somebody that he could relax with, somebody who understood his problems, was interested in him. Um, someone he didn’t have to perform in front of, didn’t have to make any effort with. I mean, we all have people like that in our lives.
He is surrounded by staff and equerries and private secretaries and uh he has very little opportunity, it seems to me, to relax in that way. And I think that’s what Camilla provided, someone that he could really let his hair down with. As a man in crisis, Charles’ own upbringing brought into focus yet again the lack of affection he received as a child from his mother, the Queen.
She was 26 years old and suddenly she had the burdens of being monarch thrust upon her. What are you supposed to do? Say, “Sorry, I can’t do this. I need I’ve got to go and bath Charles.” She really did try and be with him. But remember, we are judging and this is a really uh point I feel very strongly about.
We’re judging the Queen’s uh upbringing of her children by the ’90s standards and this was back in 1950 in the ’50s. Charles was born in 1948. And it was very different then for all of us. Diana’s childhood was disrupted when her own mother walked out on the family home when Diana was only 8 years old. Her bulimia can be traced back to her turbulent childhood.
Can I say She was left in the care of her father, Earl Spencer, who was bursting with pride when his daughter became engaged to Prince Charles. What are you doing on the pavement outside the palace? I thought you’d be inside. I’m photographing the photographers. [laughter] Yeah.
Well, what a marvelous day for you today? Lovely day. Lovely day. We’re all very happy. I saw Diana last night. You look absolutely radiant. Radiant, very happy. I never seen her look better. I’ve photographed every event in her life. I’m photographing this one, too. Later, Diana’s father married Raine, his second wife. When he married um Raine Spencer, I think she felt a great sense of isolation and loneliness um in that she never got on with her stepmother.
And I think in a way that posed problems when she married the Prince of Wales because he was very much a bachelor by the time he married her. There was a huge age difference. They had very little in common and she what she wanted was sort of love and cosseting and affection and I think he found that very hard to give her. Diana attempted to find some satisfaction in caring for those whose circumstances were far worse than her own.
Diana is one of life’s victims, concerned for the sick and handicapped, the AIDS sufferers, the homeless and the unloved, all of whom she identifies with. What I have found, both in my own experience and in my visits to organizations which support couples and children in difficulty, is that there are certain common ingredients essential for families of all sizes and types.
There must, of course, be love. But love in its most practical forms. Commitment to each other. Sharing together. Self-discipline. And some self-sacrifice. At a charity function for AIDS sufferers, Diana pleases everybody by looking glamorous in a way that as a child she had hoped to please her mother and latterly her husband.
She soon came to realize that the person from whom she had expected the reward of obedience and duty was too involved with his own needs to recognize hers. As a bulimia sufferer, Diana did not admit she had a problem. She always appeared happy and spent her life trying to help others. Yet there was rage beneath the sunny smile and an anger which bulimia sufferers are afraid to express.
It may be futile to apportion blame, but it’s hard to resist the conclusion that Charles’ unique life as heir to the throne, surrounded by sycophancy and deference, made him incapable of treating anyone as an equal, let alone in the loving and caring way required to build a marriage. What always puzzled me was how Charles could be so indifferent to this beautiful, glamorous, gorgeous creature who was who was standing by him.
It is only when you when you realize that throughout the length of their marriage she had bulimia. And she therefore was quite stand-offish. She was prickly. She was difficult. It’s when you understand that that I think the whole the whole of the the past that his behavior during those past years falls into place. On an official visit to Canada, the mystique of royalty was maintained.
Here the attention focused on the family. The young princes carefully trained to meet the people, do exactly what is expected of royalty. Despite her own marriage breakdown, Diana is determined to give her sons a happier childhood than she had. In compensating for her own unhappy experiences, she’s accused of over-mothering them.
Diana’s got so many other problems to deal with that if she’s a bit overprotective of her children, I don’t think any woman would blame her. Her mother, although we perhaps unfairly say her mother left her when she was very young, but to all intents and purposes it looks to us as if she was deserted by her mother.
But really the closest people to her are her children and I think if she smothers and over-mothers them a bit, goodness me, I don’t blame her. I think I think any any woman would do the same. Relaxing with her two sons on a skiing holiday and away from her adoring public, Diana is still the focus of the people’s attention.
This is her life and it’s unlikely she’ll ever be able to escape the public gaze. Charles has the comfort of his own family to give him the security he needs. Diana was now alone. Her skiing holiday was abruptly ended when her beloved father died unexpectedly. Unhappy that she wasn’t at her father’s bedside when he died, she made her own way back home.
At the funeral, her message to him was simple. “I miss you dreadfully, darling daddy, but will love you forever.” At his memorial service a few months later, the family appeared together, a rare occasion created out of family grief. In Egypt, the lonely princess performed her duties to perfection, both for the photographers and as the Queen’s representative.
The shy Di image gone, she was now holding an audience with the president of Egypt. And Charles was alone in Turkey. In the past he’d been photographed on holiday here with Camilla Parker Bowles. On this occasion he was by himself, escaping from the gaze of a curious press and trying to do some painting hidden behind a makeshift screen.
Back home, clouds were forming with the imminent publication of the book Diana: Her True Story, confirming to the world for the first time the sham of his marriage to Diana. Betrayal was in the air. Once Diana realized that um she’d been betrayed by her husband, she was extremely angry and humiliated and what wife wouldn’t be? I don’t believe uh that her uh cooperation with the book um or tacit approval of the book, if indeed there was such a thing, um was a deliberate attempt to get back at Prince Charles. But I think when she when she
realized the publicity that surrounded the revelations uh that she was not unhappy about the effect that this was going to have upon Prince Charles. I don’t think it was a deliberate attempt upon her part to seek revenge. Uh but once it had happened, I think that perhaps she was not unhappy that it had taken place.
Concern for Diana’s health and state of mind, her friends had allegedly gathered around her to expose the lies of the royal marriage. Her friend, James Gilbey, was amongst those who had helped Diana through some of her painful years, as well as Carolyn Bartholomew, who had been her best friend since her school days.
She was not unhappy to see that story told. I think even she was shocked and surprised by the degree of detail that was in the Morton book and some of her friendships with some of the friends that talked to Morton have not been quite the same since. So, I don’t think she actually herself instigated getting the Charles story out, but she was very glad that it was told.
The campaign of character assassination took on a more sinister dimension with the publication of an illegally taped intimate telephone conversation between Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. The Prince and Mrs. Parker Bowles met regularly, but it appears from these tapes that on this occasion they had been forced to go without seeing each other.
I can’t see good at feeling all alone. Oh, God. What a I wear on you. I can’t bear a Sunday night without you. Oh, God. It’s like that program start a week. I can’t start the week without you. Oh, God. I felt up your bum. If you do, I’ll be your bum. Yeah. And then I’m all right. What about me? I feel that I need you several times a week.
I do. I need you all the week. All the time. Buckingham Palace and the royal family refused to comment on the authenticity of the tapes. Outwardly unconcerned by their publication, Charles’ credibility was again questioned. His reaction to publication of the Camillagate tapes was total horror.
It was a quiet weekend at Sandringham. He knew it was coming. Even he on this occasion knew that this was going to be incredibly damaging and it did open up the whole question of was this Mrs. Camilla Parker Bowles? What was the nature of his relationship with her? All the questions that journalists have quite rightly teased away at for the last couple of years and that he is now himself been forced to answer.
No denials were made confirming beyond all doubt Charles’ adultery with Camilla. He was relieved that the story now public knowledge. Charles certainly knew of the existence of the Camillagate tape for a long time before it was published and it was a real sword of Damocles hanging over his head and when it finally fell, it was a crushing blow that he’s still recovering from and will be I think for a number of years yet.
So, who organized the illegal taping? Newspapers pointed an accusing finger at GCHQ, the government secret service listening agency. The security services and indeed the Queen herself um were desperate to find what Charles’ intentions were and Charles was dashing hither and thither, spending nights well away from his bodyguards and as we now know, spending much of the night talking on the telephone to his lover, Camilla Parker Bowles.
An experienced hand could install bugging equipment with ease. It’s not a difficult thing to do. £500 for a a bug and another £1,000 for a receiver. It’s pretty basic equipment and um uh almost anybody can go into a shop and buy this sort of stuff now. Newspapers claimed that the taping of Diana’s intimate telephone conversations with her friend James Gilbey was Charles’ doing and that Camilla was exposed by Diana’s friends to get back at Charles.
Just as the release of the squiggy tapes was entirely in Charles’ interest the release of the Camilla tapes were in Diana’s. At last everything she had been telling her friends was proved to be true. Uh Charles far from being the the loving husband and the caring father uh had indeed from uh an earlier stage of the marriage than has ever been revealed um been uh a lover of Camilla Parker Bowles.
While questions were being asked about the timing of the divorce, Diana took the boys away for a holiday. Given that the primary concern is the well-being of the young princes William and Harry, the complexities and reality of divorce had to be examined at length by both parties.
The separation agreement states that Diana could lead a separate life within the royal framework, joining Prince Charles on formal state occasions. They would share custody of the children. At any convenient opportunity, Diana whisks her sons away to have them to herself and keep them under her protective wing. One can’t help but feel that there are these two small boys growing up very quickly who are very loving and very adorable.
And one can’t help but feel that she would look to them in some way to perhaps compensate her for what she’s missed out on in her marriage. And this would be not at all a good thing. Charles is sometimes dismissive to his children’s needs as he feels his parents were of his. He finds great difficulty in giving others something which he never had.
It could well be that Charles could be unconsciously considering the possibility that what was okay for him would probably be all right for them. And in fact, it looks as if it’s going in that direction already, you see, because his parents inevitably were separated from him because of their involvement with affairs of state.
As Charles continues to demand respect and approval, his estranged wife continues to pull the crowds wherever she goes. By upstaging her husband throughout their married life, she’s been forced into a lonely corner where her only consolation comes from her adoring public. [cheering] Yeah, up till now I suppose she has found love in the approval of the of the population in general because people do love her. Uh she does many good works.
She’s terribly charitable. She is so very concerned for the well-being of others. And uh she looks very attractive and this is something that uh she gets approval for and I’m sure she feels loved by the people of the country. Within a year of their official separation, Diana felt confident enough to appear publicly with the royal family at Sandringham on Christmas morning.
[snorts] Her sons wanted her to be part of the Christmas celebrations. She left shortly afterwards to spend the rest of the holiday alone and perhaps recall the last 13 years back to the moment where she and Charles were interviewed about their engagement. There was no doubt then in Diana’s mind that she was marrying Charles for love.
Whatever in love means. Well, you can put your own Prince Charles spoke often about what he wanted from marriage. He wanted a companion. He wanted someone to fulfill a role. Somebody to perform duties. As far as he was concerned, love, affection uh came very much were very much secondary considerations.
He wanted a partner to fulfill a function. Charles admitted publicly on a television program that he had been unfaithful to his wife after their marriage. In Diana’s mind, he is lying since she knows he was unfaithful long before the marriage was on the rocks. I think that’s the one extraordinary omission from his confessional summer of ’94 is that there’s been no apology to the British people for letting down that fairytale marriage in which they’d invested so much.
No apology to his wife for his behavior and no expression of regret. No, I’m sorry about what I did. Just a slightly mealy-mouthed confession of adultery as if that were his prerogative and nothing else and a and a and a blithe determination to proceed as if nothing had happened. Charles could, if he chooses, remain formally married to Diana.
If they divorce, he could even marry his Catholic lover Camilla should she become free. I think it’s extremely difficult for the Prince of Wales to produce Camilla Parker Bowles who would be a divorced Catholic as a new Princess of Wales and a future Queen. I suspect that he still thinks he can do that.
I personally think he’s wrong. I don’t think that he can marry Camilla and become King. There are too many constitutional, religious and other complications along the way, but he thinks he can. Diana has reduced her royal duties and effectively retired from public life. Her natural ability to capture the warmth of royalty will be sadly missed.
The smart money would be eventually on on a divorce and Charles remaining uh a divorcee with possibly female companions such as Camilla Parker Bowles by his side. That’s That’s one scenario. Another one would be that uh they would remain separated at least for a decade decade or so. Diana hasn’t made up her mind what she wants to do.
She’s certainly not in a hurry. There’s no doubt to me that Charles’ mistreatment of her, not just the adultery that he’s now admitted but treating her like a second-class citizen below the salt as the entire family did uh when in her own immortal words, she’d done so much for that ex-family uh was really the wrong way to treat the star member of the royal family and it’s it’s indicative of the way that the so-called born royals can never accept the ones that marry them as anything like on an equal plane
regardless of the public success. The magic is gone. The marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales is over. The royal family now faces the task of adapting to the challenges of the 21st century. Diana is now out on her own, escaping the spotlight. By letting her go, the Windsors have failed and royalty can no longer set an example of happy family life.
